Skip to content

Failsafe Service

Jump to bottom
Pras Velagapudi edited this page Jul 6, 2015 · 2 revisions

The Failsafe Service is a feature that allows the Platypus Server to return to a known location if it goes out of range. It is configured on the Airboat Setup screen used to start the server. It can be turned on and off while the server is running.

Term Definition
Failsafe IP Address An IP address that must be reachable for the boat to be considered 'in-range'.
Home Position A GPS location that the vehicle will return to if connectivity is completely lost.
Last-Known-Good Position A GPS location that the vehicle has previously traveled to that it will return to if it loses connectivity temporarily.

Failsafe Behavior

The failsafe service implements the following set of rules:

  1. Periodically check if the Failsafe IP address is reachable.
  2. If the IP address is not reachable, head to the Last-Known-Good Position. This is the last commanded waypoint before connectivity was lost. It will indicate this by playing ringtones on the phone.
  3. If at the Last-Known-Good Position, the vehicle still does not have connectivity, it will head back to the Home Position. It will indicate this by playing ringtones on the phone.

Setting up the Failsafe Service

The Failsafe IP Address and Home Position must be set for the failsafe behavior to take effect:

  • The Failsafe IP address should be an address that the boat would always be connected to under normal circumstances. Some examples are the IP address of the WiFi router connected to the vehicle, or the IP address of the laptop or tablet used to control the vehicle.

  • The Home Position should be set to a location that is easy for the boat to reach in a straight line path from the area it is operating. Usually, this is set on the shoreline near the deployment location.

Both of these can be configured automatically by checking the AUTO checkbox on the Airboat Setup screen. In this case, the server will use the IP address of the controlling tablet or laptop as the Failsafe IP Address and the Home Position will be set to the location where the server is started up.

⚠️ The failsafe service may falsely trigger when using 4G communication. This is because connectivity with a 4G network can be spurious, or block certain types of ICMP requests that are needed to accurately estimate connectivity. It is recommended that the failsafe service be disabled when 4G communication is used.

Clone this wiki locally